Folderchat [6/22/08] Help Me upgrade my computer

[nunyadam]

goals
1. It has got to play games
1a must have good FPS
1b Eye candy (I hate having to turn down the graphics,)
2. A folding Monster
3. future proof it as much as possible.
4. $500- $600 budget
5. Must O.C. well
6.IDE so I can use old parts
7. ps2 mouse (not a huge deal.)
8. Vista (DX10 for the Vid card) This could be put off as a future upgrade if the money could be used elsewhere.
9. reuse what parts we can, knowing full well most of it has to go.

I could do this Myself. It would take a lot of time to research all the parts, and I would undoubtedly miss something crucial.

So the question is......
Given the parameters above whats going to be the best BANG for the buck?

The Current build.
I've made this Garbage Scow last quite a while, ASUS A7V8X MB, Barton xp2500+, ATI AIW800XT, Creative Audigy, Lighton DVD burner, SATA HD, the Enlight 420 PS, Antec case.(Pic of the case in my photos,) it has Dual 120's for fans.( Metal framed Super Silent something or another I salvaged out of a projector.)
This will be about the 3'rd major upgrade for the garbage scow.

[KarmaKiller]

Kaptin Karma is on it!

Best bang for buck $500-$600 range.

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - CPUs / Processors
E7200- $129 Free shipping
I have been testing one of these myself. I have one at 3.4Ghz on STOCK v-core, and it's flippen fast. Not only that, they run cool.

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Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards
Gigabyte GS-EP35 DS3L - $89 +$8 shipping
I'm gonna stick with the Gigabyte board. They are great boards, and OC very well.

Newegg.com - OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1100 (PC2 8800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
OCZ Gold 2x1Gb DDR2-1100 - $47.99 or $37.99 after MIR + Free Shipping
I changed my mind on the RAM. This is faster stuff, and with the rebate it's cheaper. This would give you some more OC headroom.

Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA430 430W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, FCC, TUV, CE, CB, C-tick, CCC - Power Supplies
Antec EarthWatts 430w PSU - $59.99 or $29.99 after MIR + Free Shipping
This will give you plenty of headroom for a nice GPU. Plus after rebates, it's dirt cheap. It gives you 2x 12v rails, rated for 17amps. That'll run most any GPU.

Newegg.com - ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
Asus 8800GT- $159.99 or $129.99 + Free Shipping
It's just simply the best bang for buck card there is. I really want to link to a 9600GT, but this is the same price, and more powerful.

Newegg.com - ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler - CPU Fans & Heatsinks
ZeroTherm BTF90 HSF - $44.99 or $34.99 after MIR + Free Shipping
This is a great cooler. And when you add in the price of shipping with the Arctic Freezer, this turns out to be the same price. And it works a bit better then the Freezer.

Total comes out to $459 with rebates applied, and that includes shipping. My guess, this would be a 3.5Ghz to 3.6Ghz system, and would max out games pretty well..
Also, that leaves a bit of money for the Mouse, and maybe a new DVD burner or HDD. Pretty much the best bang for buck system, from newegg..


EDIT:
If you want to go into the mid 500's, then I'd say pick up the 4850.

[nunyadam]

H'mm lets see what we have here.
Good CPU
Motherboard allows a later Quad Upgrade.

The 8800 is better than a 9600? Mid 500's is fine if the extra what $40 is going to give me that much better bang.

[nunyadam]

By the way I hate Rebates. lol
We also have a few days to play with this as I still don't have the cash in hand. As it is I will have to send them a check.

[gigahertz205]

Benchmark

Check it out yourself. 4850 has similar performances against 9800GTX, but falls a bit short. Certainly is better than 8800GT. Its only $40 more (if your not considering the rebate).

EDIT: is it just me or is avast blocking yahoo?

[KarmaKiller]

Don't like rebates eh?
I can't blame you, it's just most of the items that offer free shipping, have some kind of rebates involved.
I can go over the list again, and see what I can up with.
And I've been reading about the 4850 the last couple of games. It seems in benchmarks, it doesn't do so good. But in real game play, it does wonderful.
So it really is a good bang for buck card.
Just make sure you steer clear of the VisionTek, Gigabyte and HIS cards. Sapphires don't seem to be having the same problems.

And one last thought.
If your a gamer, you should do yourself some justice and get one of these. They are great gaming mice, and are pretty easy on the wallet.
Newegg.com - Logitech MX518 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB + PS/2 Wired Optical 1600 dpi Gaming-Grade Mouse - Mouse



EDIT:
Ok, that wasn't my last thought. The last thought is this. With that P35 board, it does support crossfire. So you could technically add in another 4850 when you need the boost. But, I'm pretty sure that PSU won't run 2 of those cards. But just something else to think about.

And Yahoo is working fine here.

[nunyadam]

so later down the road i buy a power supply and vid card

[KarmaKiller]

Something like that. I could try to squeeze a more powerful one in now, but budget is pretty tight as it is..
Let me look

Newegg.com - HIPER HPU-4M580-PS (EU) 580W ATX12V Power Supply 100 - 120V/ 195 - 240V CB, CE, FCC, TUV, cUL - Power Supplies
That's the minimum I'd put 2x 4850's on.. And that's gonna be close to full load on that PSU. But Hiper's are good PSU's, so I think it could take it.

Newegg.com - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB, CE, CSA, UL, FCC - Power Supplies
That would be a better PSU to get. But it comes with the rebate. If it makes you feel any better though, that's the exact same PSU I have powering my Quad rig now. And it's done that no questions asked, and I've even tested out 2x 9600GT's on there, and it handled that no problem.

[Cmptr-Gy-Dv]

I would look for a board that does not use the P35/ICH9 chipset,

this thing started to BSOD again today, only it did in both vista and XP at the same time so it's not the os causing the problem,

however I have the asus P5K-E board and to run 1066 memory you need to OC the memory to 1066, stock speed is 800, I have put the memory on stock speed of 800 although I am using 1066 memory in here,

so far no BSOD i'll let you know how it runs over the next few days,

the board that KK link to runs 1066 at stock speed so maybe that will work better than having a board that you have to OC the memory to run 1066,

[engracio]

Based from experience, any Evga rebates are quick and always comes withing 4-5 weeks. Whole lot better than most rebates which at times does not even come. I've have a couple $50 rebates from evga and there were prompt, not to mention even email you that they got it and sending it to you.

e

[nunyadam]

I would look for a board that does not use the P35/ICH9 chipset,

however I have the asus P5K-E board and to run 1066 memory you need to OC the memory to 1066, stock speed is 800, I have put the memory on stock speed of 800 although I am using 1066 memory in here,


the board that KK link to runs 1066 at stock speed so maybe that will work better than having a board that you have to OC the memory to run 1066,

The P35 chipset would appear to be the One to go with for OC'ing.

Asus from my experience is not the go to Motherboard Co. for Overclocking. They always seem to have something that holds you back. I had the original A7V rev1 motherboard, it couldn't keep up with the other boards, clocked well, but lagged behind.

next up Gigabyte GA-7VTXE
I liked that died an untimely death, cause, Bad Caps. clocked pretty well, Still seems like there was something holding me back.

Next up the A7V MX400.
Budget board bought it just to get my computer up and running. very limited options in Bios for OC'ing

Current board
Asus A7V8X
I thought they finally got it right. WRONG. FSB still tied to the PCI Divider. It overclocks pretty well, but it could do better.

Asus from my experience have been very good quality wise, they just always seem to lack something feature wise. I believe it was Sharder who said something about there quality is now suffering. I'll take his comment, your troubles, my experience with them, and come to the conclusion that My next Motherboard will not be from ASUS.

Assuming Gigabyte has there Cap problem behind them I will give them another shot, Unless somebody can give Me solid reasons why not to do so.


The Motherboard being the foundation of the computer should not be scrimped on. It is not what I will consider an future upgrade item. PCIE is going to be around for a bit, with new cards still coming out. so it makes sense to me that we go for the gold motherboard wise, (within reason)
SLI support would be nice.

Video:
current card ATI AIW X800XT
Good card, but just about anything we put in it is going to make me squirt compared to it. Lets aim for something good, and leave room for a future upgrade. Just make sure it will run F@H

the power supply
A true upgrade item. Match it to what we are putting in now. When and IF i get around to SLI I will upgrade it then.

Based from experience, any Evga rebates are quick and always comes withing 4-5 weeks. Whole lot better than most rebates which at times does not even come. I've have a couple $50 rebates from evga and there were prompt, not to mention even email you that they got it and sending it to you.

e

Well then that could be a good thing. My previous cards have been Nvidia, for that matter the card before the X800XT was an EVGA 5700 Ultra. Nice card in its day. Updating drivers on Nvidia's was always a breeze. The AIW X800XT always makes me cringe. There is something about 5-6 different packages that have to be installed in just the right order, or it doesn't work bothers me. Nvidia on the other hand, click boom your done. Some of the ATI problem is due to the nature of an AIW card. (the purchase of the AIW was a comprimise I made knowing where this computer is going next, Media center PC.)

[nunyadam]

The Government LIES! 3 times they in three different letters they tell ME I will get $1200.
Wrong, they gave Me $600. Upgrading now is not going to happen.

[KarmaKiller]

That's too bad Nunya.
Leave it to Uncle Sam to ruin a good idea...

[nunyadam]

Well it would have been nice if they had told me this part BEFORE.

Based on your filing status, the amount of the stimulus payment is $1200 or your net income tax liability, whichever is less.

It goes on to say if your liability was less than $600 you will get $600.

Would have been nice if they had said that the first time.

[KarmaKiller]

Well, if you even got $150, then we can get you a newer setup.. Think about it. Maybe the fellow folders could pitch in.(with working hardware this time. )

And I guess I'll post some stats now...

[KarmaKiller]

TechIMO's Top 20 Crunchers!
6/23

1 engracio 12,717 --1,317,681
2 mrniceguytech 3,186-- 485,003
3 Karmakiller 2,595-- 222,674
4 no1_vern 1,874-- 1,029,245 5
2monsters 1,649-- 172,291
6 PS3 1,212-- 282,999
7 CoonDawg90 800-- 47,685
8 sharder8 790-- 5,895
9 kyle 788-- 140,816
10 cmptrgydv 777-- 90,220
11 Jynxedu 366-- 58,722
12 ihatereading369 349-- 162,531
13 eagle1 307-- 2,149
14 vikeor 288-- 23,227
15 emeraude63 287-- 13,368
16 cunokyle 283-- 31,412
17 Chuckiechan 144-- 186,107
18 alhirzel 137-- 16,213
19 PrinceLalijama 131-- 4,805
20 nunyadam 122-- 31,720

[Cmptr-Gy-Dv]

nunyy I think you should email that uncle sam of ours and give him one of these, and than give him one more for me

and than give one of these to and one of these,

and than give him my email so I can respond with this guy,

well no BSOD today, i'm thinking it's time to run mem test so if things are good with the memory,

[KarmaKiller]

That's all I have for Uncle Sam...

[engracio]

You guys are getting weirder everyday. Either that or my med are finally working after all these years.

[nunyadam]

This is just a minor setback, I'll just have to rethink it and see how it goes. My Birthday is coming up at the end of next month, and I always find a way to buy myself something.
To bad they don't make motherboards like whatever the heck it was I had a long time ago used SD ram or DDR.

That would be a nightmare board. DDR and DDR2, AGP, and PCIE. what else do we want them to put on it.

well Karma How should I attack this? Run with the build you came up with and just buy parts as I can, or Do you have another Idea.
I do still have a P4 2.8 sitting here,( and one Finally going out in the mail.) To bad its in a suck ass Dell. It still will out fold the computer I'm running.

Dave as for the Government.